Winnebago and Rockford Christian boys advanced as teams to the 1A state meet at Detwiller Park in Peoria.

Rockford Christian finished second in the team standings behind Winnebago with 133 points.

Sophomore Nick Monkemeyer led the Royals with a time of 16:07.

On girls side, Byron’s Kelsey Hildreth continued her strong season with another title. The senior won the race in a time of 18:29.

The Tigers also qualified for state as a team taking second overall (148 points). Kewanee Wethersfield was sectional champ with 83 points. Lutheran missed the five-team qualifying cut with its sixth-place finish (184 points). Harvard took fifth with 154 points.

Rockford Lutheran’s Emma Fenelon and Winnebago’s Cheyenne Moore advanced to state as individuals.

Class 2A

Dixon boys team scored 99 points for second at the 2A Belvidere Sectional.

The Dukes had five of their scoring runners in the top 40. Senior Simon Thorpe finished second at 15:21, followed by teammates Cody Sondgeroth (5th, 15:31), Austin Trevino (25th, 16:05), Skylar Mitchell (27th, 16:07) and Evan Grady (40th, 16:22).

Dixon boys were the lone area team to qualify among the top five teams for either boys or girls for the 2A state cross country meet.

After six years, the Belvidere North boys will not compete as a team. The three-time former state champs finished eighth with 207 points.

Eryk Yunk, who ran on the Blue Thunder’s second-place state team last year, took fourth in the boys race at 15:30 to qualify individually.

“It’s sad that we are not going down as team considering we have qualified year in and year out,” said Yunk, a sophomore. “I want to do my best at state, although I won’t have my teammates to run with.”

Meanwhile, Jenna Lutzow qualified for state for the Blue Thunder girls team. The freshman finished fifth at 18:11.

“I was really trying to do good,” Lutzow said. “I stayed with the front of the pack and I’m excited about going to state as a freshman.”

The area had no qualifiers to the 3A state meet from the Aurora Waubonsie Valley Sectional. Individually, Jefferson’s Aarren Minneyfield was the highest boys NIC-10 finisher at 20th (15:54), while Harlem’s Allison Hartman was tops for NIC-10 girls at 26th (19:11). The five qualifying boys team were Wheaton Warrenville South, Naperville North, Wheaton North, Naperville Central and Batavia. On the girls side, Naperville North won the title, followed by Naperville Central, Geneva, Wheaton Warrenville South and St. Charles North to round out top five.